NWsider4-3-3 wrote:
i remember hearing in 2016 that contreras was rated highest of all young talents in the budding cubs system (2012-2015), by the cubs themselves. thought he looked great his first few years and i was hoping he'd be johnny bench for a decade.
right. too much of a hot-head and undisciplined to be johnny bench.
maybe you're right - pick the clubs with the top 3-4 catching prospects and get a deal done. if the cubs truly believe in amaya, then get back a good pitching prospect.
He would be a really good fit with the Blue Jays in a contract year.
With the Blue Jays, Alejandro Kirk has a lot of promise but he's too young at 22 to be an everyday playoff catcher, and their #1 prospect is a catcher named Gabe Moreno who crushed AA this year and saw a couple of AB in Toronto due to COVID issues. I don't think the Jays would give up Kirk, but for a full year of Contreras to let Moreno develop with a full year at AAA, they have some good minor league pieces.
For example, they have a SS/3B named Kevin Smith who got rushed up way too young for a few games in September due to a rash injuries and clearly isn't ready yet, but who hit well at AAA. He's blocked behind Jordan Groshans, whose service time clock they didn't want to start. Get Smith and have him play every day SS/3B at AAA next year while they figure out if Nico Hoerner is too fragile to be an everyday player and if Patrick Wisdom is going to turn into Jerome Walton, and get the Jays to include their next best catching prospect.
I think Amaya is one of those guys whose career COVID screwed over, his service time clock is already started, he was hurt much of this year, he only played 23 games this year for a shitty Tennessee team where he got pitched around most of the time (21 BB, 17 H) so even if he had double power he wasn't going to get a decent pitch to hit. There is absolutely no way he can start in Chicago next year, and at this point he probably projects out to a ceiling of Victor Caratini. Regardless of what happens with Contreras, Amaya needs at least 300 PA at Iowa next year before anybody can say anything about him even coming to Chicago as a backup.